A Great Bible Secret (It’s All About God, Not About Us!) 1 Of 2

• He deals with the issues of life that relate to us

• He is also known for some of the unusual stories he tells

Illus: One day Paul Harvey announced on his news program that some days things never go right for some people.

He then went on to tell about a man that had many things go wrong in his life, so he decided he was going to end his life by jumping off a five story building.

He jumped, and he landed on top of a man driving a convertible. The fall killed the driver of the c

Paul Harvey said, “For some people things never go right, he is now being charge with murder…Good Day!”

This is true. Some folks seem to have more than their share of bad things happen to them.

Illus: After finishing an out-of-town errand, a man discovered that his car wouldn’t start because it was out of gas.

He asked where he could find a gas station, and a passer-by told him there was a service station a mile away. He took a gas can from the trunk of his car and trudged the distance in the sweltering sun.

The attendant filled his two-gallon can, and he lugged it back and poured the gas into the tank.

But when he tried to unlock the car door, it wouldn’t open. Just then, he noticed an identical car parked a short distance away. That was his car; he had filled a stranger’s gas tank.

He had to walk back in the heat of the day and get two more gallons.

There are some days we wish we had never gotten out of bed. That guy was having a bad day.

But some folks have REALLY bad days.

Illus: Lawrence Hanratty was, at the time the newspaper article was written, a 38 year-old resident of Mt. Vernon, New York. He was described in the article as being the unluckiest man in New York.

• First, he was nearly electrocuted in a construction accident that put him in a coma for weeks. He recovered from the coma only to have to hire a law firm to fight for his liability claims.

• One of his lawyers was disbarred; two of the others died and his wife ran off with her own lawyer.

• Still, his problems were not over. He came down with heart and liver disease, that required him to be on oxygen continuously and he had to take 42 pills a day to survive.

• He was involved in a car wreck. The police responded to the call for help and investigated the accident. But when the police left, a thief came along and robbed him.

• When the article was written in 1995, his insurance company had notified him that they were going to cut off his workman’s comp benefits and his landlord told him that he was being evicted.

It seems that many of us live our lives by “Murphy’s Law”, that says “If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.”

Illus: For example, have you noticed:

• The later you stay up, the earlier your child will wake up the next morning.

• The longer it takes you to make a meal, the less your child will like it.

• If the shoe fits...it's expensive.

• The surest way to get something done is to tell a child not to do it.

• The gooier the food, the more likely it is to end up on the carpet.

• Backing the car out of the driveway causes your child to have to go to the bathroom.

Illus: Many of us feel that IF WE DID NOT HAVE BAD LUCK WE WOULD HAVE NO LUCK AT ALL!

The apostle Paul experienced plenty of bad days, but look what he said about these bad days.

Look at Phil. 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Paul did not live his life according to MURPHY’S LAW but according to GOD’S LAW! God’s law says that no matter what we face, God will give us the strength to face it.

For example, Paul said in 2 Cor. 4:8-9, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.”

In these verses of scripture, Paul was saying –

• He was down, but he was not out

• He was beaten, but he was also blessed

• He experienced persecution in following Christ, but also the sweet fellowship of other Christians

• He experienced both the good and bad in life

We all do!

As we look into the scriptures, we discover that God always has a purpose in the GOOD and the BAD that comes our way.